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5 Helpful Apps for Your Spring Gardening

Written by: Jason Notte04/12/13 - 8:30 AM EDT

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Unless you're raised on gardening or live in a place with enough space and biodiversity to give you some experience, there's a strong chance your urban, produce-shopping hands will murder the flower boxes or raised beds you've resolved to tend this year.

See, you're just the kind of sucker that giant home centers such as Home Depot and Lowe's see coming before you ever roll into the parking lot. They remember your kind from before the recession, when the Census Bureau said home and garden retailers took in $86.3 billion from March through May 2006. That take dropped $67.7 billion during the depths of the economic downturn in 2009, but the $73.9 billion worth of shovels, rakes, soil and saplings bought last spring were a sign of better things to come. It'll mean nothing but profit for them, however, if you just end up with a giant pile of compost and a bunch of bent, rusting garden tools.

Knowing just how daunting those seemingly simple garden chores can get, we'd recommend putting your mobile devices to good use and calling in some help. We browsed this year's app offerings and found a handful that can keep your garden growing and help even the least handy gardener keep things green and clean: